Growing In Grace

I talk about the gospel - a lot! And there are countless reasons why I put such a great emphasis on this central truth. I have written about this before (http://trevorbinkley.blogspot.com/2012/12/things-of-first-importance-why-i-make.html) and today I want to write about it again. There are so many passages that could be referenced to support the centrality and importance of the gospel, but let's look at the passage referenced in the title of this post: 1 Peter 1:10-12  Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to l...

Most people are familiar with the Bible's opening line, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." From this verse we must recognize that before there was a beginning, God was. Clearly God could not have created something "in the beginning" if He was not already preexisting. John picks this theme up for us in the intro to his gospel. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John unfolds for us that this Word is the preexisting God come in the flesh as the God-man Jesus. John continues that everything was made "through" Him and, as the Genesis narrative continues to unfold the story of the creation account, we see that Adam was the crowning achievement of God's creation. Adam was created in perfection in the Garden of Eden and God told him to be fruitful and multiply by having dominion over the whole earth. The image is of Adam and Even expanding the perfection of the Garden to the e...